Beat has revealed a new-look weekday morning programming schedule on the back of record daily JNLR listenership figures.*
For the first time in the youth-focused radio station’s 20-year history, over 100,000 people now listen in daily – up from a still impressive 97,000 in the last quarter of 2022. What’s more, weekly listenership is also on the rise with 162,000 people in South East tuning in across a seven-day period.
Celebrating a JNLR record of his own with the ever-popular Beat Breakfast with Niall and Sho attracting a new high of 52,000 listeners, Head of Station Sound Niall Power revealed that it has been a goal since he began his role as Head of Station Sound to “surpass the 100,000 barrier.
“We now have 101,000 listeners in the South East every day – that’s a pretty impressive statistic!” he said.
Not content with resting on its laurels, Beat is using the record listenership figures as a launchpad for a revised weekday morning programming schedule commencing Monday, May 15. Beat Breakfast will continue as normal but will now be followed by an all-new show hosted by Carlow native and Beat Breakfast producer Cillian Doyle. The 60-minute show, dubbed Beat Throwbacks, is set to feature the biggest tracks from the late nineties and early noughties with a healthy dose of feel-good audience engagement.
Beat Breakfast's Niall and Sho in Beat's all-new digital studio
Commenting on the new show, Cillian said, “It really is a dream come true to have my own show on primetime radio.”
He continued: “I’m looking forward to filling the ears of the South East with throwback tunes while also having plenty of craic along the way. My mission is to make this show my own. Yes, that might sound cliché, but I genuinely adore all genres of music from the pure cheese of Westlife’s classic noughties period to the slightly more serious nineties house scene.
Completing Beat’s revised AM schedule is Bring the Beat. Hosted by Waterford’s Michelle Heffernan, the four-hour-long slot kicks off at 11 am and aims to bring the hottest trending tunes and plenty of Michelle’s trademark risqué banter.
On the upcoming programming changes, Niall Power revealed that he was “beyond excited” about what is to come as Beat quickly approaches its twentieth birthday celebrations. “These exciting programming changes, coupled with a new music policy, serve to build on the incredible success Beat has achieved over the last two decades.”
*JNLR Ipsos MRBI | Q1-2023, South East Region
